By Charmaine Y. Rodriguez
Ruby Ibarra bested 7,500 independent entries from across the US
Singing passionately about Filipino folklore and motherhood, Filipino-American artist Rubi Ibarra won this year’s NPR Tiny Desk contest.
NPR, an independent, nonprofit media organization that was founded on a mission to create a more informed public, holds the Tiny Desk Contest and it’s now on its 11th year.
“We received nearly 7,500 entries from independent artists across the country for the Tiny Desk Contest. That’s a record for the project, now in its 11th year, which has catapulted the careers of artists like Grammy winners Fantastic Negrito and Tank and the Bangas. Now we have a new star: Ruby Ibarra, a Filipina American rapper from the Bay Area. Ibarra’s Contest entry, “Bakunawa,” stunned this year’s panel of judges with its multilingual, intergenerational band and passionate emcee,” the organization said in a media release.
They noted that community and culture are two guiding forces in Ibarra’s music.
The contest judges cited Ruby’s unique performance and authenticity for winning this year.
“Ruby’s stunning submission, ‘Bakunawa,’ covers all the bases: beautifully arranged music, passion and, above all, authenticity. We’ve never seen or heard anything like Ruby Ibarra. She’s special and she’s ready,” said Bobby Carter, one of the judges.
“Ruby and her all-female band have a clear passion to embrace history and culture in a modern way. The song is a groove and she’s a star,” said another judge, Judy Miller Silverman.
She was referring to the group that includes R&B singer Ouida and members of Pinay Voltron and Astralogik, plus rock legend June Millington, who did some guitars.
The band included Anna Macan on guitar and background vocals, Camille Ramirez on bass, flute and background vocals, Angelo “LASI” Macaraeg on keyboard and guitar, JoJo Gajardo Ramirez on drums and Charito Soriano on background vocals.
For their Tiny Desk concert set list, the band performed “Bakunawa,” where Ibarra sang and rapped in English, Tagalog and Bisaya, switching effortlessly between the three languages from one verse to the next.
On the second song entitled “7000 Miles,” she raps about her and her family’s experiences as immigrants.
“My mom will make it in America” is a verse she repeats while looking into the teary eyes of her mother, who was seated in the front row with a box of tissues.
At the end of the third song, “Someday,” Ibarra changed the song’s refrain from “Mama, we gon’ make it here someday” to “Mama, we gon’ make it here today.”
Ruby immigrated from Tacloban City, Philippines to the Bay Area when she was five year old. Her songs include the family’s struggles of looking different and having parents who had to work hard to live the American Dream.
Aside from being a new mother, Ruby’s victory promises a new chapter for the songwriter and producer.
Ruby is a University of California Davis graduate. She previously worked as a scientist in the quality-control department of a Bay Area biotech firm.